You might already know that the choice of jobs you 'see' depends on what you expect to see. We tend to see what we have seen before. We rely heavily on what we already 'know'. We can be strongly influenced by our previous experiences, and by our expectations. Seeing 'what is already there', is normal and healthy behaviour. Our brains are made that way.

But, if you are not happy with the opportinities that (you think) you see before you, you can choose to look in another way. Open your eyes wider, look for what you want to see. Sounds too easy huh? And it is. Like walking, running or swimming, it's easy when you have learned to do it. It takes a bit of effort to learn how to open your eyes to see the opportunities that are hiding in plain sight. And it's SO worth the effort.

Tip. Look for opportunities that are hiding inside the problem. What do they want and need?

My Story (How I discovered that you can change what you see, by opening your eyes)

When I was 16, still at school, I wanted to study AND to earn money. But not delivering newspapers, that was too early in the morning for me.

I had heard from my parents and teachers that I was expected to study hard in school, get good grades, get a decent job and work hard, get paid lots of money, and the rest would be easy. Sounded like a plan.

And, I had heard, in an inspirational talk from an organisation called "Young Enterprise" that I can, if I want, create whatever 'job' I want to create. I didn't believe it. It sounded too easy. It was beyond my experience, at that time.

And the opportunity to create a 'job', and make lots of money turned up just weeks after the inspirational talk. Co-incidence? I don't think so.

The school where I was studying at had a problem. At lunchtime students would go across the road to the local corner shop to buy sweets and cigarettes. Some parents were upset about this and were demanding that the school should stop the students buying cigarettes. At that time there was no law against selling cigarettes to schoolchildren (in 1975) and the shopkeeper was not interested in any discussions that would limit his income. The head teacher instructed the teachers to patrol the school gate and tell students not to buy cigarettes. How well do you think that worked? Tensions between students-teachers-parents-head were growing and there was talk of employing a gate guard so that the teachers didn't have to spend their lunchtimes chasing cigarette-smoking students across the road.

Do YOU see the business opportunities in that situation?

There are several.

Look for the opportunities that these problems contain. What do the people, the students, parents, teachers and heads really want? And of that, what do you want?

The business opportunity that I saw gave me the chance to face up to the biggest authority figures in my life. I came up against plenty of rules and regulations, and found neat ways around them. I learned lots and earned plenty. I made so much money that I didn't have to take any loans to study at University for three years. I learned that I can, if I want, create whatever 'job' I want to create.

Contact me, tell me the opportunities that YOU see in the problem that I describe and I will contact you and guide you to see the opportunities in your situation.

Here are the needs and the opportunity that I saw.

Parents, teachers and the head teacher needed the students to stay in school, safe and away from cigarettes. Students wanted something to do and eat at lunchtime. School lunches were not great. I wanted to make money selling sweets. Not cigarettes! I guessed that it would be impractical to sell cigarettes in a school and not get caught. I did think about it, and rejected the idea on moral as well as practical grounds.

I realised I wanted to set up a small sweet shop. In order to do that I need to have an account at a sweets wholesalers, open a bank account, borrow money from my father and get permission from the head teacher, and support from some other teachers. Hmm, suddenly I had a mission, clear goals and a prioritised list of things to do.

Looking for a job? Not finding what you need? Look differently. Look for the opportunity that's hiding inside the problem.